The Whale Rider By Niki Caro

“The twists and turns of your life can be so unexpected, and that's a good thing to learn.” Whale talk is a story of a kid named T.J and some of his friends that go through a life of a teenager. In the story Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher, people who have been through traumatic events cope with challenges in their lives by overcoming, forgetting, or learning.

Killer whales, also known as orcas, are the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. In their natural habitat, killer whales have been described as docile and majestic creatures. Killer whales are known to travel in pods that are composed of matrilines. Matrilines are groups of whales connected by maternal descent. Relationships between killer whale calves and their mother are extremely close knit (“Behavior”). Beginning in 1965, SeaWorld – a marine zoo, began capturing whales from the wild to perform in shows for park visitors’ entertainment (“10 Things You Didn’t Know”). In the documentary Blackfish, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite urges and reassures audience members that keeping these large creatures in captivity is a horrible thing that is dangerous for both the whales as well as the humans that interact with them. To accomplish this persuasion, Cowperthwaite employs the use of rhetorical devices ethos, pathos, and logos to solidify her claims.

The mother whale and the calf are together everyday. Everything the calf does the mother is right next to it. If one goes to Sea World one will see the mother and calf together. Just because they were always together, even during shows and the calf will start to slow down the mother. The took the calf away from the mother. The mother just stayed in one spot and cried and made noise that were never heard before. Sea world has been effected by the film Blackfish. The way it was effected was by the uses of Pathos, and logos.

In 1970, a man by the name of John Crowe was a diver and he would go out and capture baby killer whales for Sea Land theme park, which is now Sea World. To capture the whales, they used speedboats, bombs, aircraft, and nets. He explained how the whales knew they were being captured so the pods would separate the moms and babies together and males would go in a different direction. The aircrafts could see where the mom and babies were so the speedboats were directed that way. John explained how when they captured a baby the moms and the other whales would stick around the boats crying and communicating back and forth. He starts crying while saying he felt like he was kidnapping, and that he did not realize what he was doing was wrong until that

There are many different messages in the novel. “Whale Talk,” I think the most important and relatable in this book is bullying, harassment, and racism. There are many real-life situations of bullying and racism throughout the whole book.

The main topic of Whale Talk is violence/ abuse. Chris Crutcher shows this through his imagery, symbols, and theme. He shows this theme vividly throughout the book. Chris also uses many real life references such as people from his life. He also provides some accuracies to his own life.

Similarly, William in page three explains that Campbell clarifies cosmological capacities as "stories enable the person to decide his/her place in the universe." The stellar capacity applies for the Whale Rider because of the principle character growing up being recounted of their legend of how the Maori tribe traveled to the territory they are acclimated to now. Pai characterizes herself alongside her family history; she expresses “a long time ago, my ancestor Paikea came to this place on the back of a whale. Since then, in every generation of my family, the firstborn son has carried his name and become the leader of our tribe... until now,” (Whale). She continually alludes back to the legend of her predecessor, Paikea, as a path for her to get the idea she is fit to do likewise. Like her predecessor, Paikea could spare the way of life which is the thing that Pai is

There are an infinite amount of unique responses to the question “What is the meaning of life?”. However, the majority of people will agree that the true meaning of life is to find happiness and what is really important to one’s self. In Jon Krakauer’s, Into The Wild, Chris McCandless conveys this idealism through his life’s journey as he bravely defies all limitations. Chris McCandless isolates himself from society in his Alaskan Odyssey as a way to defy accepted expectations and to begin discovering the meanings of life without any corrupted influences.

Whale Rider is an exemplary film of feminism and women coming into leadership roles. This entire film is example of discrimination between male and female. Whale Rider is the story of a female that constantly tries to be the leader of the tribe even though she is a female.

When describing working with killer whales, one of the former SeaWorld trainers uses personification to illustrate the bond human and whale shared and how it started to seem as if the whale had become like one of his children. By giving the animal the likeness of a human, the trainer was hoping that the viewer could relate the bond he shared with his animal to the bond a viewer might have between a parent and their child. The former SeaWorld trainer also successfully uses pathos in this scene. He appeals to the viewers emotions, especially to parents, by bringing in the special bond of a parent and child. The bond between a parent and their child is one of the strongest bonds one will experience in a lifetime and it is also one of the bonds that we have all experienced. Not everyone may have felt the bonds of friendship and love, but everyone is either a parent or a child. As a result, the viewer is able understand the feeling of the trainers, who have been around and worked with the killer whales for so long, that if feels as if the whales have become their children.

The claim further argues that said stress can be directly blamed for the violent outbursts of the orcas against the training staff. When whales are taken away from their families in the wild waters, they grieve the pain and suffering that is associated with that parting, thus making the whales an emotional time bomb. The documentary provides grounds to argue that orcas suffer the emotional repercussions of separation, much like humans do by with the fact that scientists have proven them to be conscious of human-like relationships and feelings via MRI’s. Moreover, included in this documentary was a commercial of a killer whale giving birth to baby Kalina. Much like our society, killer whales value their relationships with their offspring. Once Kalina was taken from her mother, Katina, is shown being immobile in the corner of the tank, audibly screeching and crying. Being able to see and hear the tragic response of the mother makes the audience empathize with the orca and want to cry for her. Incorporating this event shows how holding orcas in captivity can negatively affect them psychologically. This vivid scene gives the audience the ability to sympathize on a personal level with a mammal other than

In 2013 Gabriela Cowperthwaite produced and directed the documentary “Blackfish”. This documentary mainly focused on the issues behind killer whales being held in captivity such as at the famous amusement park Sea World, instead of the open ocean. Some negative outcomes of these animals being confined to such small spaces is, many accounts have been documented of the whales being agitated and having an aggressive tone with other whales and the trainers as well that work with them. A handful of these are human deaths caused by the orca whales. Throughout the documentary the director uses the Rhetorical strategies ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade the audience and try to convince them that her argument has a valid point and can be

She employs an effective range of visual techniques to create compassion for the miserable creatures. Contrasting real footage of captive whale with bent fin; with wild whale’s perpendicular fin. It allows the audience to question the differences and makes us realise that SeaWorld is doing something severely wrong that causes physical damage. This makes the audiences feel outraged by its treatment as it is unfair, inhuman and cruel; furthermore, audiences are invited to feel compassion for the unfortunate creature because they could not defend themselves.

Blackfish is a shocking film that reveals a lot of information regarding Sea Worlds famous known “Killer Whales”. These enormous whales are highly trained by trainers of Sea World who perform for thousands daily. The film uses the tragic tale of Tillikum to support their many claims and an investigation of the Sea World

In the film 'Whale Rider', by Niki Caro which follows the journey of a young girl named Paikea Apirana and her struggle for acceptance as a leader of her Māori iwi, and especially her grandfather. An important character in this film is Pai herself. This character has significant importance as she is used to portray numerous important ideas and themes throughout the film. Pai helps me to understand and appreciate that women can also be leaders that are equal to men if they have the right attributes. The director Niki Caro uses numerous different film techniques to convey this idea, such as; the camera shots and camera angles when Pai is giving her speech to Koro, the use of camera angles and props in relation to the dialogue when Pai if fixing the motorboat engine, and the use of props when Pai is teaching herself to use the Taiaha.